Don't Close Your Eyes
by kat5552
Summary: It was a day just like any other day. They went on a mission just like any other mission. It was an easy job...so how did they end up here?


Don't Close Your Eyes

It had been a normal day. It was just like any other day. They had gone to the guild together. She had sat at the bar drinking a strawberry smoothie and talking to Mira just like every other day. He had bounded up to her with a job request, 100,000 jewel to get rid of some monster's eggs in the forest near Magnolia. It was an easy job, a _normal_ job. She had immediately lit up at the thought of getting some extra cash since she was perpetually in need of rent money. They had agreed to just take Happy with them, something about wanting to spend some time with just the three of them. Erza and Gray had said they would go along, but it wouldn't have been worth it to have to split the reward so many ways.

It had taken less than three minutes to go down. They had found the eggs quite easily due to Natsu's nose and they had been watching the eggs burn to ash with satisfied grins on their faces. It had been an _easy_ job. All they had to do was take out the clutch of eggs. Nothing more, nothing less. They had not had such an uncomplicated job in…well in probably years. He had been grinning at her, his characteristic fanged grin, when momma monster had come back and was not happy to find her babies burning.

The monster was fairly intimidating looking. It was like a cross between a giant crab, a spider, and a scorpion. Armor covered its entire body, even its great big fangs, and Lucy had flipped out at the sight of it, immediately calling Loke to help them deal with it. Everything had been going fine. Happy had lifted Natsu into the air to attack from above to try and find a weak spot in its armor and Lucy and Loke were keeping it busy while Natsu and Happy searched.

It had happened in a flash. Suddenly Natsu felt something pierce his stomach, and looking down, he had seen that it was the monster's scorpion like tail. He could see the tip of it through his stomach and his shirt and he grimaced at the pain even as blood began to pour from the wound. Lucy had seen, just like she always seemed to see, and had cried out in alarm, directing Happy to move Natsu away, to get him away while she and Loke dealt with the beast. In the moment she had turned to make sure Happy listened, the monster's right pincer came sweeping past her, catching her in her side and cutting it open at the same time the momentum from the movement threw her back. Loke had immediately rushed to defend his master, calling upon the power of Regulus to beat it back but Natsu had not seen any of it. All he had seen was Lucy hurtling through the air.

Happy had grabbed Lucy before she could get hurt further on any trees or rocks, but Natsu didn't see it. All he saw was the blood coating her side, flowing down her hip, down her legs… All he could see was red. The beast didn't stand a chance as Natsu's flames ate at it. Even with its armor, it was no match for the flames of the enraged dragon slayer. He did not watch the creature die; instead he crawled to where Happy had laid Lucy and pulled her into his lap, cradling her to him as he used one hand to press hard against her wound to try and stop the bleeding while the other caressed her face. He wasn't even aware of his own wound anymore as he directed Happy and Loke to go find help. They weren't that far from Magnolia. If they could get to the guild, they could get Wendy, and then Lucy would be all right again.

The spirit and the Exceed took off, faster than Natsu had ever seen them move, while he cradled the blonde in his lap. She now had blood pouring from her mouth as her body was wracked with coughs and convulsions, but she never once closed her eyes or removed her gaze from Natsu.

"I'm…so glad, Nat…su," she whispered to him, peering deep into his panicked, obsidian eyes.

"What are you glad about, Lucy?" he whispered back, ignoring the throbbing pain coming from holding Lucy so tightly even as blackness began to eat at his vision.

"For more…adventures," her voice was barely audible and so very weak that Natsu panicked even more and shook her slightly.

"Don't talk like that, Weirdo!" he said, his heart hammering in his chest and pumping more blood out of his wound. He could feel her fading, could hear her heart beat slowing, and he even imagined he could hear her lungs filling up with her life's blood. "Don't close your eyes!" he suddenly cried, noticing her lids slowly drifting shut.

"You made…my life…wonderful," she whispered even as he frantically brushed his hand across her cheek, trying to keep her conscious. If she just stayed conscious long enough for Wendy to get there, everything would be okay. Everything would be back to normal. They would go get their reward, probably double, for destroying the eggs and the momma monster. They would go back to the guild and laugh at Gray's stripping and get in fights and go on more adventures and Natsu would sneak into her apartment and…and…

"Don't close your eyes!" Natsu practically screamed as he watched Lucy's eyes finally drift shut. He heard her heart stutter and her breath escape her one last time and felt himself…break.

 _Don't close your eyes._

This wasn't happening.

 _I have so much I still want to tell you_.

It just wasn't fair.

 _Open your eyes, Lucy!_

It was an easy job. None of this should have happened.

 _You can't leave me. Don't close your eyes!_

She wasn't really gone. This wasn't happening. Not to him, not to them, not now.

 _Don't close your eyes!_

He heard footsteps thundering towards them even as he heard heart-wrenching sobs overtake his friends. Happy knew… Loke knew… They all knew…

 _He knows she's…_

He was wrong. Loke was wrong. It didn't matter that he would have felt the contract dissolve as soon as Lucy…as soon as she…

 _Don't close your eyes!_

He didn't feel them approach. He had heard it, but there was nothing left for him. His world was now dark and cold and gray. His light…his light was gone. Taken from him. Stolen. She had…left him. What was he supposed to do without her? Was there any point to everything they had gone through, everything they had survived, if this is where they would end up? He hadn't even been able to tell her! She didn't know! WHAT WAS THE POINT?!

Exhaustion and pain, a pain so consuming and overwhelming it literally stole his breath away, suddenly swamped him as he let his head fall forward to rest against hers even as his hand stopped its motion across her cheek. There was…nothing left… He felt his eyes close as he saw her in his mind's eye…smiling, happy, holding out her hand for his…

 _Don't close your eyes…_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So first things first…this is a one-shot. I'm not planning on writing anything more to it and really I don't even want to. I like where it ended. It's supposed to be sad and it's supposed to be ambiguous. As always, I do not own Fairy Tail.


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